Category Archives: books

October 7, 2014

A Year of READING Dangerously — Update

By ritalovestowrite

If you are following along you know that I’ve started an on-line book club called A Year of READING Dangerously in an effort to collectively read all 100 books on the ALA’s Top 100 Most Banned or Challenged Books of 2000-2009 list.  I hope you’ll join us in this goal as most banned books are well worth reading! Click HERE to go to the FaceBook page and join in the fun or just leave a message at the end of this post and let us know what you are reading and what you thought of it.

 

 

 

ALA Seal

ALA Seal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

So far I’ve read:

 

 

 

  • To Kill A Mockingbird (#21)
  • And Tango Makes Three (#4)
  • A Handmaid’s Tale (#88)
  • The Earth, My Butt, &  other BIG Round Things (#34)

 

 

 

As you can tell I’m not reading the list in order  and I’m mixing it up as far as literature, children’s books and pop lit. This is largely to do with what is readily available — either currently on my shelves at home or easily attainable at the local library — and do to the fact that I don’t think I could handle too much grim fiction all at once (or too much teen-aged angst all at once for that matter.)   I was going to just post my findings on the FaceBook page, but since some of you don’t DO F.B. I realized that that leaves you out of the loop. So I’m starting fresh here.

 

Mockingbird cropped

 

 

 

To Kill A Mockingbird (#21) — What a lovely, lovely book. I’m a sucker for fiction written in the first person / childhood past. This book has the best elements of a coming of age novel, a courtroom drama, historical fiction, innocence lost, and southern drama. I also like that it is written about the 1930’s but was written in the 1960’s and the two eras keep smashing up against each other with their common themes. It made me want to curl up in Atticus Finch’s lap and read some more.

 

My guess to why it was banned? Violence. Racism. Offensive language (the N word). Rape. Political Viewpoint.

 

 

 

Tango

 

And Tango Makes Three (#4)

 

This warm, sweet, delightful picture book tells the true story of two male chinstrap penguins that formed a family in 1998. They did all the same things as the other families did… bowed to each other, walked together, sang together, swam together… but there was one thing Roy and Silo couldn’t do that the other families could do… they couldn’t produce an egg. So when another penguin family produced two fertilized eggs the zoo keeper put one of them in Roy and Silo’s nest. After days and nights of tending the nest and sitting on the egg Roy and Silo’s family is completed when Tango Make Three. This book is beautifully illustrated by Henry Cole and lovingly written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

 

My guess to why it was banned? Homosexuality. (Yep, I guess that’s enough to get this sweet little book a spot at number 4 on the list.)

 

 

 

Handmaid's square copy

 

A Handmaid’s Tale (#88)

 

I’d read the novel years ago and there were several scenes that stuck with me vividly. I remember the gloom of dystopia from my first go, but what moved me this time was the feminism in the book. Not sure what has changed in me (the words are still the same, so It must be me who’s changed) but this time it was much more about what had happened to womanhood than what had happened to mankind in general. The section towards the middle when Ofglen remembers the sea change in society — when her credit card doesn’t work and she looses her job — kept me up at night (just as it did when I first read the book). [Hello Apple, I think I’ll keep my real money and not go with your all-purpose funny money iphone app.] Anyway, GREAT read.

 

My guess to why it was banned? Religious viewpoint. Political viewpoint. Violence. (And if you are being picky: Nudity. Sexism. Drugs, alcohol, smoking. Homosexuality. Sexually explicit.)

 

 

 

The EArth, My Butt...

 

The Earth, My Butt, &  other BIG Round Things (#34)

 

From the title I’d hoped this book would be funny, sarcastic and kind of snappy. Alas it wasn’t really. It was kind of whiny and two dimensional. Written in first person narrative by the ugly duckling of the Shreve family, you are supposed to be on overweight, under appreciated, Virginia’s side. And I was, mostly, but I kept thinking that the cardboard cut outs of her parents and school mates probably had a lot more dimension to them than she was presenting. Same with conflicts in the story (big and small). The only things that ever got fully fleshed out was her diet and her eyebrow piercing.  I’ve read other YA angst novels that are far more successful.

 

My guess to why it was banned? The first sentence probably had the Parent Review Board tossing this one out. Sexually explicit. Date Rape. Unsuited for age group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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September 26, 2014

A Year of READING Dangerously

By ritalovestowrite

 

Whatever you do…DON’T READ THIS.

 

If you don’t like subversive literature, like To Kill A Mockingbird or Harry Potter or The Giver, you should definitely just move along.

 

Me? I’m a big fan of banned books, so… this being BANNED BOOK WEEK naturally I checked out all the available lists to see what I should add to my reading shelf.

 

I particularly like The American Library Association’s list of Top 100 Banned/Challenged Book (see below). So I thought why not invite my reading / literary lovin’ friends to a join me in an electronic book club that tackles the list. The goal is to collectively read all 100 books on the list by this time next year, when Banned Book Week rolls around again.  You can read one, ten or all the books if you want. Just jot me a comment letting me know which book you’ve read (or re-read) and what you’ve liked about it. More than one person can read the same book, but I’m hoping we can cover the whole list.

 

If you are on Facebook you can also follow A Year of READING Dangerously there.

 

I’m starting things off by re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

 

Here’s the list of Top 100 Banned /Challenged Books
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris

13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey

English: Cover of Adventures of Huckleberry Fi...

English: Cover of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by EW Kemble from the original 1884 edition of the book. Source: Project Gutenberg Category:Mark Twain images (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier

Bridge to Terabithia (novel)

Bridge to Terabithia (novel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey

Cover of "The Kite Runner"

Cover of The Kite Runner


50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss

A Day No Pigs Would Die

A Day No Pigs Would Die (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George

 

The Boy Who Lost His Face

The Boy Who Lost His Face (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard

94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine

95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix

96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

 

1 Comment   |  tags: | posted in books, Literature, Thought of the Day

October 26, 2013

Pop-Up Bookstores

By ritalovestowrite
The Bargain Book Warehouse in Harford Mall

The Bargain Book Warehouse in Harford Mall

Once upon a time there was a mall. It was a fine mall. Not too big. Not too small. The mall was just right. It had a place to buy food…and a place to buy Yankee Candles…and a place to buy clothing and fancy soap and shoes and cards for every holiday. But the mall didn’t have a book store. So the mall was sad.

Then one day some one put up portable shelving in an empty store. They opened long  sturdy tables. They hung vinyl banners announcing “Cookbooks” and “Children’s” and “Mystery.” Then they filled the shelves and the tables with discounted books and the Bargain Book Warehouse pop-up store was born.

There is no fancy neon sign above the entrance, just a simple fold up easel to tell folks that books reside inside. BARGAIN BOOKS.

As a writer I have a bit of a problem with the concept of Bargain Books. When the prices are slashed surely that means that the poor author is the one getting the shaft.

But as my mom (my companion, and my reason for being in the mall) eased into her second quarter-hour in the Hallmark Store I excused myself and slipped into the B.B.W. to “look.”

Frankly, I didn’t expect much. Usually these places are such a jumble of  cast-off you can’t find anything specific on your “to read” list. It’s best to approach with a “browse only” policy. Trying to find an individual author or title will only lead to tears.

So I headed over to the ART table. Low and behold they had some Graphic Design books. Some pretty decent Graphic Design books. I actually had my choice of books on Logo Design. Cool.

I brought my selection up the humble check out counter (another wooden table). The cash register shared space with more books and JOURNALS!

Jackpot! I picked up a  selection of lined and unlined journals. Things were looking up.

Then I went just a little too far. Thinking I might be able to pick up a few books for the upcoming JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) meeting I asked the guy behind the cash register this question: “Could you point me towards your Jane Austen, please?”

He looked back at me, thinking hard. “Um?”  Thinking harder. “Do you know what kind of books she wrote?”

“Yes I do.” I answered, closing my mouth with a tight smile before he rest of my sentence — “and, as you work in a BOOKSTORE, you should know what kinds of books she wrote too” — came spilling out. I smiled. “She wrote novels in the Regency Period.”  Nothing. “About 200 years ago.”

“She wrote History?” He nodded to a vinyl banner with the letters HISTORY on it.

History

“No she didn’t write History, she wrote romantic fiction.”

“Oh, Romances.” He looked the other way at a banner emblazoned with a loopy typeface.

Romance

“No. She wrote Pride and Prejudice.” I tried again.

His face shifted with slow recognition. “Oh, yeah. I saw that movie.” GAR!  “Yeah all that old stuff is over there.”

I handed him my Journals and Graphic Design books. “That’s OK. If you don’t recognize her name you probably don’t carry her books.”

I smiled and handed over my money.

He smiled and handed me my receipt.

So, Pop-Up Bookstore guy I apologize for going all Jane-Austen-snobby on you.

My bad, I shouldn’t have broken the  golden rule about asking for a specific author.

I wont make the same mistake again.

English: "Protested that he never read no...

English: “Protested that he never read novels” – Mr. Collins claims that he never reads novels. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: George Allen, 1894, page 87. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leave a comment | posted in books, Jane Austen, JASNA, postaday, Thought of the Day, Writing

September 25, 2013

I love finishing a bad book

By ritalovestowrite

Yeah, I should have posted yesterday, but I was busy. SORRY.

I mean I WAS busy. I went to the gym, lined up a freelance project, canned tomato sauce, cooked dinner for two of my favorite guys Bill and Mikey, and had music rehearsal. So I really wasn’t slacking off. But, well, maybe I’d have had enough time to do a post if I hadn’t sat down to finish that book I’d been nursing along on my Kindle.

Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon (Yeah, that’s not my hand. Or my Kindle)

Its not like it was a GOOD book.

It wasn’t.

It was an OK mystery and I don’t even LIKE mysteries.

The writer kept TELLING things that she should have put into dialog and kept putting things in dialog that she should have just TOLD the reader.

There was a big side plot about knitting and fiber and yarn and that kept my interest tied up long after the mystery got stale. (See what I did there? “Tied up”)

… And there were dogs. I’m a sucker for dogs. Shame the chemistry between the protagonist and her boyfriend wasn’t as warm as the connection between her and her dogs.

Third generation Amazon Kindle, showing text f...

Third generation Amazon Kindle, showing text from the novel Moby-Dick. Esperanto: Amazon Kindle de la tria generacio, montranta originan tekston el la romano Moby-Dick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) [Again, not my Kindle. But you can see the indicator bar at the bottom. This person is about 25% the way through a book about Greenland right-whales.]

There’s an indicator at the bottom of the Kindle page that acts as a book marker of sorts. It tells you how far you’ve gone in a book. I found myself looking down there an awful lot with this book. I kept thinking she’s got a half an inch to go, she can pull this out the tank and make this worth the time I’ve invested. … OK a 1/4 inch to go there could still be something worth while. … 1/8 an inch– I am the master of my own Kindle I WILL finish this book!

And I did, dag-gone-it!

There’s something liberating about finishing a book you don’t really care about.

With out the usual emotional investment I attach to a book at about page 70, I was able to put this book down and just walk away. I just didn’t care.

I don’t find myself thinking what the characters are doing post book or daydreaming about them as I walk the dog.  Nope. Don’t care.

So thank you bad book author. Because the only person who apparently cares less about your characters than you … is me. 🙂

I can’t wait to read the next book on my Kindle, Ending Up by Ellen Dye. Or the one I got out the library. Or the one my friend Joyce sent me as an out-of-the-blue present in the mail (an actual present in the mail!!! for no reason at all!!!) Which ever one I read has already been granted the prize of not having to follow a wonderful book.  So YEAH them! And yeah me!

 

English: Stack of books in Gould's Book Arcade...

English: Stack of books in Gould’s Book Arcade, Newtown, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) [Not my books, but my pile is almost as big.)

4 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in books, Thought of the Day, Writing

July 11, 2013

July Creative Challenge Day 11, Parting Thoughts

By ritalovestowrite

endings

Well, if yesterday took a look at famous opening lines, I have to do famous ending lines today, don’t I? So… beware of SPOILERS!!! Here are the last lines to some famous novels, and some of my favorites. Please comment with your own faves.

lasting Impressions4

Lasting 3

Lasting 1

lasting 2

Want to take a quiz to test you mad “last line” skills? …[Click Here]

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in books, July Challenge, postaday, Thought of the Day, Writing

July 10, 2013

July Creative Challenge, Day 10: First Impressions

By ritalovestowrite

Openings

A well crafted first sentence is a work of art. It is the gateway to a good novel… a treasure to roll around on your tongue … the road map for the next 300 pages. I recently came across the American Book Review’s “100 Best First Lines From Novels” which got me thinking about some of my own favorites. This is, by no means, a complete list, feel free to contribute your own suggestions.  [To read the American Book Review’s full list go HERE.]

Point go to any one who can name the author of all the books. (Hint: There’s a Ford Maddox Ford in there that I don’t expect any one to get.) You get bonus points for each book you’ve read.

First lines 1

First lines 2

First Lines 3Oh, and incase you are keeping count… I didn’t do a hundred. I do have a little bit of a life to attend to…

Related articles

July Creative Challenge Day 11: Parting Thoughts

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March 9, 2013

Secondary Character Saturday Alan Rickman: Colonel Brandon

By ritalovestowrite
[Courtesy Fan Pop]

[Click on the image for animated Alan; Image Courtesy Fan Pop]

Who: Colonel Brandon

 

From: Sense and Sensibility

 

Title page from the first edition of Jane Aust...

 

By: Jane Austen 

 

Published: 1811

 

Pros: Kind, considerate, thoughtful, decent, patient, gentle, faithful, honorable, sensitive, generous, caring… and , oh, yeah, RICH.

 

Although reserved and not passionate, he has a very good heart and helps out those in distress. His charitable behavior toward Eliza Williams and Edward Ferrars makes him the unnoticed knight in shining armor. [Book Rags.com]

 

Cons: Unromantic (on the surface at least), dull, remote, joyless, grave.  He appears stern and dour. especially when compared to Willoughby.

 

English: "when Colonel Brandon appeared i...

English: “when Colonel Brandon appeared it was too great a shock to be borne with calmness” – Marianne, expecting Willoughby, leaves after Colonel Brandon appears. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: George Allen, 1899. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Most Shining Moment: Traveling from Cleveland to Barton Cottage overnight to fetch Mrs. Dashwood to Marianne’s sick-bed.

 

Not a moment was lost in delay of any kind. The horses arrived, even before they were expected, and Colonel Brandon only pressing her hand with a look of solemnity, and a few words spoken too low to reach her ear, hurried into the carriage. It was then about twelve o’clock, and she returned to her sister’s apartment to wait for the arrival of the apothecary, and to watch by her the rest of the night. [Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 43]

 

Least Shining Moment: [I love Brandon, don’t get me wrong. I don’t know that there is a bigger Brandon fan out there than yours truly. BUT … ]  Marianne (rightly) thinks Brandon too old for her. His attraction to her is largely based on a decades old attraction to another woman, Eliza Williams*, to whom he was separated from when he was shipped off to the Army. Essentially he is in love with a ghost from his past.   I know we live a different times but… crushing on some one who is nearly 20 years your junior because they remind you of lost love is a bit creepy, isn’t it? .

Brandon and Marianne (Kate Winslett) in the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility [Image Courtesy: Fan Pop]

Brandon and Marianne (Kate Winslet) in the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility [Image Courtesy: Fan Pop]

It is as good for him as it is for Marianne that it takes them the entire novel to get together. He’s a very patient man. And in the time it takes for her to realize that he is actually a wonderful guy, he has learned to appreciate her for who she really is (and not just as a substitute for his long-lost Eliza.) I think at the end of the novel Brandon really does love Marianne for herself. Perhaps that is the sweetest journey of all in the book.

 

He has clearly already had his heart-broken, and the romantic Marianne believes that everyone is fated to only love once; she prefers the young, handsome, and spontaneous Willoughby, who eventually jilts her. Proving that patience is a virtue, Brandon remains on the perimeter until Marianne gets over being jilted. Brandon’s character and temperament conform to Austen’s and Elinor’s idea of sense rather than sensibility. [Book Rags.com]

 

Alan Rickman played as Colonel Brandon in the 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee, from a screenplay by Emma Thompson. It was “the first cinematic Jane Austen adaptation in 50 years” [IMDb Sense and Sensibility] I love the movie. Like most Austen adaptions it swings wildly away from the book at times, but, still, Ahhhhh… it is a delight. And Rickman’s pitch perfect Brandon is certainly a big part of why I’m so fond of the film. He’s soooo somber, and the poor guy never seems to get his timing right. He’s always walking in just as  Marianne is expecting the more pleasant company of Willoughby.

As Marianne languishes in the other room, Brandon begs for a commission from Elinore. She suggests he fetch her mother, Mrs. Dashwood to Cleveland. [Image Courtesy: Fan Pop]

As Marianne languishes in the other room, Brandon begs for a commission from Elinore. She suggests he fetch her mother, Mrs. Dashwood to Cleveland. [Image Courtesy: Fan Pop]

The comparison between the two men (sensible Brandon and sensual Willoughby) is a secondary theme  in the book (it echos the dichotomy of the sisters’ relationship) but  the movie gives it a wonderful treatment with almost identical scenes of the male character carrying Marianne to safety through the rain. Willoughby does so almost effortlessly towards the beginning of the movie. He puts her down on her mother’s couch as if she is light as a feather. The episode hardly cost him any effort and Marianne is instantly besotted with him.  For Brandon it is a different story. He falls to his knees when he makes to the main hall at Cleveland. He’s spent every ounce of his energy in the task of finding and rescuing Marianne.  But, as she is lifted out of his arms, she is too ill to notice, much less thank him. … SIGH… for those of us who like a tablespoon of  unrequited love in our fiction it is a lovely scene.

 

 

 

Brandon reads to a recovering Marianne (in the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility) [Image Courtesy Fan Pop]

Brandon reads to a recovering Marianne (in the 1995 movie version of Sense and Sensibility) [Image Courtesy Fan Pop]

*BTW: The Brandon and Eliza back story would make such a lovely historically based novel. Some one get on that please.

 

 

 

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Alan Rickman, books, Colonel Brandon, England, Fiction, fictional character, Film, Jane Austen, JASNA, postaday, Secondary Character, Sense and Sensiblity, Thought of the Day

March 7, 2013

Happy World Book Day! (What’s on your Night Stand?)

By ritalovestowrite

Super quick post to wish you all a Happy World Book Day!

So here’s my quick reader’s quiz for you…

  • What YOU are reading today (What’s on your night stand)?
  • Who is  your favorite author?
  • What is your favorite book of all time?
  • What’s your favorite series?
  • What was / is your favorite book as a child?
  • What genre of literature do you gravitate you?
  • Bound / paper or e-book? And why?
  • Where is your favorite place to read?
  • What’s the one thing that keeps you from reading?
  • AND… what / who do you wish some one would write a book about?

Here, in no particular order, are some of the books we’ve looked at over the last 9 months on ritaLOVEStoWRITE…

tolkien books

Tolkien’s perfect trilogy.

2006 edition of Brave New World published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics

2006 edition of Brave New World published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics

James and the Giant Peach

James and the Giant Peach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The fourth edition of The American Language is still available on Amazon.com.

The fourth edition of The American Language is still available on Amazon.com.

The Shel Silverstein collection "borrowed" from the shelves of an obliging independent brick and mortar bookstore, Greetings and Readings in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

The Shel Silverstein collection “borrowed” from the shelves of an obliging independent brick and mortar bookstore, Greetings and Readings in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Cover of Wives and Daughters. [ Image courtesy: Amazon.com]

Cover of Wives and Daughters. [ Image courtesy: Amazon.com]

Anne Tyler 3 books

The Anne Tyler trifecta

Milne House at Pooh Corner1000

Classic Winnie the Pooh

Anansi Boys

I’m reading Gaiman’s Neverwhere now, but I blogged about Anansi Boys a little while ago.

Tweedeedle

Tweedeedle by Johnny Gruelle (of Raggedy Anne fame)

Dune cover art [Image courtesy: Book Wit]

Dune cover art [Image courtesy: Book Wit]

Complete set of the seven books of the Harry P...

Complete set of the seven books of the Harry Potter series. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

——————————————————————————

Clearly I’ve got a thing for the classics and children literature. [Interesting I have no problem airing my eclectic musical taste for all the blogosphere to see, but when it comes to books I hide my paperbacks in the closest… what’s up with that? The fact is I don’t read ENOUGH, or at least — I don’t read as much as I’d like. Maybe I should take a pledge on this World Book Day to READ MORE! But would that mean I’d have to blog less? Hmmmm.]

 

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in books, Elizabeth Gaskell, fictional character, Frank Herbert, H L Mencken, Jane Austen, JASNA, JK Rowling, Johnny Gruelle, JRR Tolkien, Literature, Neil Gaiman, postaday, Shel Silverstein

March 4, 2013

Jane Austen at Goucher

By ritalovestowrite

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

Dear readers,

I’ve had an article on the Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and the amazing Jane Austen Collection at Goucher Library published in the March/April edition of Mason-Dixon ARRIVE magazine. Goucher has the largest collection of Austen related material (including several first editions of the books) in North America. It was a real treat to sit down with the ladies who shepherd this collection and talk about Jane.

Click here to go to the magazine’s website, then click on the cover to read a virtual copy of the magazine. The article is on page 22.

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

Reading Jane’s Letters [Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

While you are on-line… how about stopping by  “Mason-Dixon ARRIVE” on Facebook to learn more about the magazine and leaving a comment on the article.

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

Here’s a link to the Jane Austen Collection at Goucher.

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

[Image courtesy: Goucher Library. Photo by: ritaLOVEStoWRITE]

2 Comments | posted in books, Goucher College, Jane Austen, Mason-Dixon ARRIVE, Pride and Prejudice, Thought of the Day

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